A day after reports emerged that documents related to India’s Scorpene submarine have been leaked, the Indian Navy said on Thursday it has asked the French government to investigate the case.
In a statement issued in New Delhi, the navy said the matter has been taken up with the director general of armaments in France. It expressed concerns over the incident and “requested the French government to investigate this incident with urgency and share their findings with the Indian side”.
Over 22,000 pages of information were reportedly leaked from DCNS, the French company that designed Scorpene submarines being built in India.
According to sources, defence minister Manohar Parrikar had told the navy to take up the matter with DCNS. He sought a report on the extent of damage following the leak, which, he said, appeared to be an incident of “hacking”.
An internal audit of procedures to rule out any security breach is also being undertaken, the navy said in the statement, a day after it stressed that the leak appears to be “from overseas and not in India”.
“The matter is being taken up with concerned foreign governments through diplomatic channels to verify the authenticity of the reports,” the Indian Navy said.
{{/usCountry}}“The matter is being taken up with concerned foreign governments through diplomatic channels to verify the authenticity of the reports,” the Indian Navy said.
{{/usCountry}}“The Government of India, as a matter of abundant precaution, is also examining the impact if the information contained in the documents claimed to be available with the Australian sources is compromised. The detailed assessment of potential impact is being undertaken by a high-level committee constituted by the Ministry of Defence, and the Indian Navy is taking all necessary steps to mitigate any probable security compromise.”
The statement ruled out any threat from the documents posted on The Australian newspaper’s website.
“The documents that have been posted on the website by an Australian news agency have been examined and do not pose any security compromise as the vital parameters have been blacked out,” the navy said.